In Plain Light 12.17 – The Winter Landscape Photography Issue

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Let it snow • Trondheim, Norway

It is December, winter is coming or already there, and with it a different landscape opens up before your eyes—and your camera lens.

Depending on your location and mood, the weather may seem glorious or appalling, but opportunities for great landscape photos are still plentiful, even – or especially? – when conditions seem far from perfect.

On the other hand, when the sun does show up, the quality of light is often pure magic. In effect, you can experience the golden hour all day long.

While basic rules for getting the best results out of your camera are still the same as during the warmer months, winter photography requires just a bit more preparation.

How to take better winter landscape photos

Keep yourself warm. This may sound like your mum's heartfelt appeal, but being comfortable is essential for taking great images. Cover your head, wear several insulating layers, and protect your hands.

For the latter, thin fingerless woollen gloves worn underneath warm mittens, or a mittens-gloves combo with a retractable finger pouch, are ideal.

Keep your camera ready. Always carry spare batteries with you, and store them in an inner pocket close to your body. Batteries are extremely sensitive to the cold, and tend to discharge faster than you can imagine.

Make it your habit to recharge all your assets as soon as the opportunity arises—that is, whenever you are back indoors.

Protect your gear. Pay attention to your camera. Place it in a bag or your pocket until you need it, and return it back in after taking a shot. Be especially careful when it snows. Consider using a plastic bag opened on both ends for the cover when photographing.

Your camera will probably tend to underexpose when set to automatic. While the usual advice would be to compensate in the opposite direction, say, by +1 to +1.5 EV, I would rather recommend to boost the effect by further underexposing, especially in sunny weather.

This technique will result in a bluish tint to the snow, a milder, warmer rendering of the sunlight, and deeper, colder shadows at the same time—all attributes of a typical winter mood.

10 winter landscapes to get inspired

Preparing this issue, I searched my archive for relevant sample images and was surprised to find quite a few—my winter ventures seem to have escaped me.

These 10 winter landscape photos were taken from January to March between Switzerland and Greenland, at different times and in different weather and lighting conditions.

Where in the world…(drag the map to see locations in Greenland and Germany—Switzerland is off the map)

They allow for a good overview of what is possible, photography-wise, in the coming months—if you are willing to leave the house.

Click on the Slideshow button to your left and let the images open in a full-screen gallery.

“In the falling quiet there was no sky or earth, only snow lifting in the wind, frosting the window glass, chilling the rooms, deadening and hushing the city.”

Truman Capote, Miriam

“Snow was falling,so much like starsfilling the dark treesthat one could easily imagineits reason for being was nothing morethan prettiness.”

Mary Oliver, American poet

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

One • Bavarian Forest NP, Germany

“It is growing cold… What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood!”

Roman Payne, The Wanderess

Trollfjord • Lofoten Islands, Norway

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape — the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.”

Andrew Wyeth, American painter

S • Rhaetian Railway to Arosa, Grisons, Switzerland

“All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white… It's late afternoon – the sun is just setting (a cold yellow colour) behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window seat using the last light to write to you.”

Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

Equinox • Ilulissat, West Greenland

“March came in that winter… bringing days that were crisp and golden and tingling, each followed by a frosty pink twilight which gradually lost itself in an elfland of moonshine.”

“There are such a lot of things that have no place in summer and autumn and spring… They keep out of the way all the year. And then when everything’s quiet and white and the nights are long and most people are asleep—then they appear.”

“…if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that.”

Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

The last quote

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Have you been good this year? Treat yourself and your loved ones to a special gift! Pick your favourite image and design your very personal fine art edition, with a selection of framing options and free size choice. (A hint: some of the images from this page are also available to order. Click on their previews to be forwarded to the quote form.)

Looking for words? Whatever the topic, chances are, someone already raised it. Search for a suitable quote by keyword or author. While on the site, join the world's largest community of readers to discuss books, receive recommendations, make discoveries, and see what others are reading.

Other photography tips

Black-and-white photography is very much alive, and landscapes in black and white still look as stunning as in Ansel Adams' day. Be sure to check the article if you'd like to try your hand at this classic and fascinating technique.

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